Producers of Lena Dunham’s ‘Sharp Stick’ Deny Lead Character Is Autistic After Criticism from Activist (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior CorrespondentAfter Lena Dunham’s new movie “Sharp Stick” was criticized on Twitter by an autism activist who claimed she was approached to be a consultant on the project, the filmmaking team behind the Sundance film says that the central character, Sarah Jo, was never written to be on the spectrum.

Producers say the drama about a young woman’s sexual awakening was inspired entirely by creator Lena Dunham’s personal journey, dealing with severe endometriosis which resulted in a hysterectomy.“Sarah Jo was never written nor imagined as a neurodivergent woman,” a spokesperson for the film says, in part, in a statement to Variety. “Nothing about Sarah Jo was coded to suggest or convey neurodivergence.

In drawing this very personal portrait mined from her own experience, Lena did recognize that audiences would identify with Sarah Jo in myriad ways.

This is the power of art, in this case, film. It leaves the imagination of the creator and lives in the experience of audiences — at best a very intimate and emotionally resonant experience.” (The full statement is below.) Ahead of the film’s debut last week at the Sundance Film Festival, a Twitter thread from Amy Gravino, an autism sexuality advocate was posted in which stated she was approached to advise the “Sharp Stick” team on bringing Sarah Jo to the screen, but was then “ghosted.”“One year ago, I was asked to consult on ‘Sharp Stick’ because the main character was written to be (yet never identified as) autistic.